Vlachs

The Vlachs are a Romance-speaking population historically dispersed in small transhumant pastoral communities across the Balkan Peninsula, in present-day Romania, Greece, North Macedonia, Albania, Serbia and Bulgaria, descended from Latin-speaking populations of the late Roman Balkans. Traditionally organized around seasonal sheep and goat herding between highland summer and lowland winter pastures, Vlach communities speak varieties of Eastern Romance, most notably Aromanian and Megleno-Romanian, closely related to but distinct from standard Romanian. Vlach identity and self-designation vary considerably by region and period, and Vlach communities have been recognized at different times as a national minority in several Balkan states, even as widespread assimilation into surrounding majority populations has substantially reduced the number of active speakers.